This method of mixing plaster and silica in mold-making is called the "dry island technique," where the maker adds enough dry material to form an island in the center of the bucket of water and the material "slakes" into the liquid. This is how one knows how much material to add; when the plaster/silica mix no longer dissolves into the water.

When the mold is set up, I place it into a steamer box that heats up the wax and makes it melt out of the plaster/silica mold. This is called the "lost wax" method of mold-making and is an ancient technique employed in the making copies of an object.

Next I "mine" a bucket of white glass for shards that are the correct size to fit in the penny-sized impressions of the mold. I smash some of the glass and pick out the pieces that fit. This is very tedious and time-consuming.

Armed with a ledger book, receipts, and all of the 4,000+ works that were manufactured over a two-month period, I installed myself in the Test Site of the Henry Art Gallery as sort of a reverse-store front.photo credit: Russell Johnson

The materials that went into the project, both concrete and intellectual, were made visible to all participants. Jars of wax, plaster, silica, water, glass, sizing, and copper powder were put on display behind where I sat, alongside texts about economy, counterfeiting, and debt that I was reading at the time of the development of this project.